Labor Nopes

Activist Kevin Ovenden discusses the work of building a left movement to challenge war, racism and the rule of capital - and why the left must confront not just a resurgent far right, but a political center that co-opts the language and energy of the left into policies that protect and empower war, racism and the rule of capital.

Anthropologist David Graeber explores the rise of useless work under late capitalism / early managerial feudalism - as a phenomenon everyone but CEOs and economists understand perfectly well, and as a grim reminder that we could all probably be doing something (or nothing!) better than with our time than bullshit work.

Political scientist Virginia Eubanks explains how a bi-partisan, technocratic shift towards automating social service and welfare programs works to encode and amplify inequality in America - building a vast 'digital poorhouse' that controls the flow of resources and policing in neighborhoods, and punishes those most in need of support.

Historian Andrew Hartman visits the new Trump front of American culture wars of the 1980s and 90s (and 60s and 70s) - as longstanding divisions around class and identity remap themselves onto a new cultural and economic landscape in the decade after the 2008 financial crash, and increasing polarization presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the left.

In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen explains to you what sarcasm is, and why you didn't understand his last Moment of Truth about raping Bill Cosby in prison, which was sarcasm by the way, if you didn't get it, and need it explained to you in this segment. Didn't listen to last week's MOT? Go back, don't get it, and listen to this one.